雙語故事:狀元和乞丐
【英文原文】
摘要：有一天，上帝的使者來到了人間。他碰到了一位高僧正在爲兩個孩子占卜前程。高僧指着其中一個孩子說“狀元”，然後又指着另一個孩子說“乞丐”。
One day one of God’s messengers descended to the world and happened to meet an eminent monk who was telling fortunes for two boys. The monk pointed at one of the boys saying “Number One Scholar”, and at another one “Beggar”.
Twenty years later, the messenger came down to the world again. When he saw the previous two boys, he was puzzled about the outcome: the original “Number One Scholar” now became a beggar while the original “Beggar” turned into a Number One Scholar instead.
So the messenger went to ask God.
God answered, “I endow everyone with talent, which only decides one third of his destiny while the rest lies in how he grasps it.”
Life is just like this.
【中文譯文】
有一天，上帝的使者來到了人間。他碰到了一位高僧正在爲兩個孩子占卜前程。高僧指着其中一個孩子說“狀元”，然後又指着另一個孩子說“乞丐”。
20年後，上帝的使者又來到了人間，看到了先前的那兩個孩子，結果讓他百思不得其解：當初的“狀元”如今成了乞丐，而當初的“乞丐”反而成了狀元。
於是，使者去問上帝。
上帝說：“我賦予每個人的天分只決定他命運的三分之一，其餘的則在於他如何去把握。”
人生就是這樣。
